Monday, January 29, 2007

The Cheezier Side of Life

I was cutting the cheese the other day, literally, with our trusty cheese slicer that we use here. Every apartment we have frequented since moving here has one. It seems a kitchen staple. Well, I began to think about how it is so normal that we use ONLY the cheese slicer to cut cheese here and at home (in the U.S.) we really always use a knife. I think it is funny how this cheese cutting process (and other ways of life) are assimilated into certain cultures, but not others. It is like orange cheddar at home. I pretty sure that there is no orange chedder anywhere in Sweden, perhaps all of Europe. There is chedder, but it is not orange. When did we decide to add food coloring and think, "ahh, the chedder will be better orange"?

Sidebar over. It is still snowy here and we are still thrilled with it. Saniya went sledding a few times last week and is really into it. We are looking into buying ice skates for all of us, but our trusty store that had them before Christmas is out. So, we are still on the hunt. There are community outdoor skating rinks around the city also when the lakes freeze I think everyone is out skating on there as well.

Saniya's birthday is tomorrow. Yeah! She will be four. She is so excited. We are going to have a family party with just us on the actual day and then a week or so later have a kids party with other kids here in the building. She is really into the kids party, getting presents and cake and ice cream, most of all.

Rob is going to France for work for the later part of this week. He seems into it. I think he has good crystals to take and is hoping for a good outcome. Although, I am clueless about what he really does, so he should tell you for it to make any sense.

Ok, have a great week. We will talk soon!

Also, we just nixed Saniya's nap, finally, and Rowan went from two to one nap a day. That was our big transition for this weekend. I think it is time for both of them. We'll see how it goes.

Yasmiene

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Barcelona Pictures

We've finally got the pictures from Barcelona. I think you'll find them spectacularly interesting. So I'll let them speak for themselves.

On the subway
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La Sagrada Familia
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Happy Times
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The roof of La Pedrera


Sniffin' nailpolish


Out at night


Park Guell


Christmas Day


Outside the museum

Monday, January 22, 2007

More to come

Well, just wanted to say hi and let you know we will post some pictures from Barcelona in the next few days. We were planning on uploading them this weekend and got sucked into a few other things. We started our taxes and discovered it is really complicated with the moving overseas and our house being a rental. So, more pixs on the way. Also, it snowed about 8-10 inches here on Saturday night. It is so white and beautiful. We were out sledding on Sunday and built a funny snowman with branches and twigs coming out all over the place. This was Saniya's special touch. Rowan is into everything, but when in the snow he just looks around and seems confused. But at home again, it is a grabbing and mouthing free for all. He is quick! Rob and I have enjoyed returning to Swedish class. We call it "adult time". We are realizing how much we don't know about the language as we learn more. It is fun though. Also, we have become addicted to listening to podcasts on the way there and back. Our current stories are from "This American Life" on public radio. I think it reminds us of everyday American things and also they are really good stories. Check it out if you have never listened. Ok, we'll be on again later this week. Hope everyone is well.

Yasmiene

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Christmas Pictures

Looking at ice skating in downtown Stockholm
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Getting the tree ready
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Gingerbread house
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They call me "Lolli"
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Opening presents
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Merry Christmas
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New Toys

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Saturday, January 13, 2007

Recovering winter wipe out

It has been awhile since we wrote. The day after we last wrote Saniya became deathly ill. Then, all three of us followed her to deaths door about two days later. We are all still not totally normal and it has been 10 days. It was a high fever and cold drama. The high fever is the worst with kids because it gets so high and really is scary. Anyways, we are hoping that nightmare is gone for good and we are hoping to get back to normal stuff soon. So, hopefully in the next week we will get some pictures up.

We are also planning lots of fun travel for the spring and summer. Should be fun. I am off to Ireland with my wonderful friend, Heather, at the end of March. Early June, Rob's mom is coming to visit and she will watch Rowan and Saniya for four days while Rob and I go to St. Petersburg, Russia, alone. We are off for two weeks in July to see the fabulous Eleanor, Brain, Tess and the new baby in some Mediterranean paradise, most likely Italy. In August, we are off to the Norwegian fjords with my Mom. It feels pretty overwhelming, but will be great and why we are here so yeah!

So, we are in the planning stages of all of that. What a load. The one thing that is interesting is that there is so much time off here and really everyone uses it. We sat down to count out the days Rob has used and what he has left and to our amazement we have more time off after all of those trips. I was saying to Rob that in the U.S. a big perk is to have lots of vacation time, but the norm is really to cash it out as an extra financial bonus. Here it is not standard to cash it out. I don't even know if you can. I know at Rob's work you can't. But, really everyone uses their time off and have a life. So great. Rob gets 6 weeks paid vacation per year and that is not including sick time, which we are not even sure how much that is. I know the six weeks off is standard here for most companies.

Anyways, pictures coming and hope everyone is healthy and not sick at all.

Also, we had a light dusting of snow last week. That is the first snow we have had here since October. I heard it snowed in Eugene, that is so exciting. Here, it is cold and windy, but sunny and dry everyday. Also, it is not getting dark until 4:00 pm now. What a long day! But, better than 3:00 like in December.

Yasmiene

Monday, January 01, 2007

Back from Barcelona!

Just returned last night, New Years Eve. What a great trip. A few major, potential nightmares. Saw lots of Gaudi, specifically the Guell Park, Sagrada Familia (a church) and Le Pedrera (an apt. building). How incredible he is as a builder and creator. He is an architect that designed lots of structures in Barcelona. We went to the zoo and a Children's Festival for Saniya and Rowan. We'll just say, they we into it, in a nutshell. What else.. we went to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and it was impressive. The building itself is incredible and their collection of Spanish and Catalunyan art is impressive. There was lots of festivity for Christmas. Tons of people roaming around. Christmas day we went to the old Barcelona Cathedral in the Gothic Quarter. The church is medieval and had impressive acoustics for the organ and singing. It was a great place to experience Christmas in a this festively religious Catholic country. Ahhhh Spain!

The mishaps were potentially serious but turned out ok. Rob was pickpocketed coming out of the subway when we first arrived. They did not take anything, but we realized our moneybelt with all passports and credits cards was in there in the bottom and if it had been in a different part of the pack would have been taken. Arghh! Lucky, lucky and we learned our lesson and wore the money belt the rest of the trip. Sometimes we need these reminders to realize we left the comfort zone of honest and wholesome Sweden. Also, we lost both children's coats on two different occasions. No big deal. The worst though was being on Las Ramblas, the busiest kind of Moroccan bazaar type of street, and Saniya left the store we were in buying batteries. We realized, had 5 minutes of shear terror and a woman on the street said there is a little girl this way. We found her crying a block away. A horrible experience. It could have been the worst nightmare of our life. So, hold your kids tight. The thing is they keep changing. This is new that she left the store. We always hold her hand and know where she is. She was right there with us buying batteries. I realize now she is getting older and don't know why she left the store, but is more distracted and tangential than before. I don't know. Also, the independence streak of thinking she can "do it on her own". Anyways we feel very lucky and are very cautious now with lots of talks about "staying with the group" and what to do if lost.

We will put up some pixs of the trip in the next week or so. Also, it's the first day of the Year 2007! Very exciting!

Yaz

Pickpockets! I swear they are over me like flies. I must reek of money or something. Yaz forgot to mention the other attempt, the night before we left, performed by amateurs. At least I got my ass grabbed. Too bad my wallet was tucked away from their groping claws. To think they could have scored 20 euros. Times like these I'm reminded of successful attempts in Mexico, Guatemala, and Malawi. They scored even less cash in those cases. So if you're travelling with me don't give me your cash as I produce copious amounts of "lots of cash, easy to take" pheromone.

As Yaz mentions above the trip was quite exciting and nerve wracking. Not seeing Saniya in the store caused complete panic. She had walked quite a ways from the store as well on one of the busiest streets in Barcelona. I was so happy to see her crying face. We had to call it an early night and just hang out in the hotel room.

Our location could not have been better as we were in the middle of the Gothic quarter with old buildings and narrow streets. Barcelona is truely a city that never sleeps. I think things really start rolling around 2am. Of course, we were solidly asleep by this time.

Saniya also would like to comment so her friends can read what she thought.
"I had a nice trip."

Our return was relatively uneventful except for passing to security and finding that you can't carry on bottles of wine. So I had to check the bag by going back downstairs, waiting in line, checking the bag, getting in another line to pay a checked bag fee (fees are Ryan air's specialty), get back in the security line which had grown to enormous size, which was quite annoying. At least I got to see the bottle of water I had to leave behind a second time. Flying is becoming more and more tedious.

New Year was interesting as we were at home and the Swedes apparently are pyromaniacs. Just before midnight the air was crackling with fireworks and big booms. I don't think they were professionally done, just some families lighting serious explosives you can buy on the street. I didn't get to shop for such goodies because we were in Barcelona which didn't seem to have any firework stands at all. Yaz and I watched the fireworks from our balcony. In the morning I flipped on the TV and saw Chicago was about to celebrate the New Year. So I was up for the most of the US New Year, drinking coffee and eating pancakes. How many of you were awake?

Thanks for all the gifts and emails for Christmas. It is very good to hear somebody is keeping up on what we're up to. Some pictures should be up soon showing Christmas and Barcelona. The New Year will also bring a few new souls to people we know so may they be welcomed and bathed in love.

Rob